The present crisis facing Puerto Rico is one of the most enduring legacies of US colonialism which began when the US grabbed the Caribbean island territory, along with Cuba and the Philippines, from Spain in 1898 under the Treaty of Paris in exchange for $20 million. The case of Puerto Rico is a showcase of why the Philippines’ having remained a US colony or becoming a US state is not the paradise that starry-eyed fanatics of the “American Dream” make it to be.

Like Filipinos under the US colonial dispensation, many Puerto Rican peasants lost their lands after property taxes on agricultural lands were raised in 1901. And by 1930, over 30 percent of agricultural properties are owned by absentee landlords. Thousands of poor peasants were forced off the land and compelled to work in the towns or the US mainland.

Puerto Rico became a steady source of cheap labor and a dumping ground of US surplus goods and capital. This is underscored by the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, also known as the Jones Act, which required all goods to enter and leave Puerto Rico in US ships. In effect, all products imported to the island are double the cost because of added taxes, customs, and fees.

According to US Supreme Court decisions in the early 1900s under the so-called “Insular Cases”, only parts of the US Constitution are applicable to Puerto Rico as determined by the US Congress. And yet, Puerto Rican citizens have no right to vote for the US Congress and Senate even if these two institutions have jurisdiction over them. Indeed, the 3.5 million residents of Puerto Rico are not treated equally under US laws even if they are technically US citizens.

International financial institutions are meanwhile using the bankruptcy of Puerto Rico to further its despicable scheme of pushing for neoliberal “reforms.” This is in accordance with the recommendations of the Krueger Report which was prepared by a group of economists under the leadership of Ann Kruger, a former official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In particular, the Krueger Report is pushing forausterity measures and more privatization.

This includes the reduction of the number of hours worked by government employees, the reduction of current $7.5 an hour minimum wage, and the reduction of the number of sick days for public workers. The Krueger Report also pushes for the privatization of government owned agencies such as the Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica, the Autoridad de Aqueductos y Alcantarillados, the State Insurance Corporatio (FSE) and the public education system.

In short, US monopoly capital will be profiting handsomely from the crisis now weighing down heavily on the Puerto Rican people. If anything, the Puerto Rican experience gives us the best proof why the pipe dream of some blindly pro-US pinoys who mistakenly believe that making the Philippines a part of US territory is the solution to all the country’s problems. The only real way out of crisis is for all the oppressed peoples of the world to break the yoke imposed by US imperial domination and global capitalism.

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Published by Karlo Mongaya

Karlo Mongaya is a graduate student at the University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City. He currently lives with his partner, Sheila, and daughter Giap. He spends the rest of his time as a freelance writer, research assistant, and volunteer for the activist group Anakbayan.
View all posts by Karlo Mongaya

Why the US lies to the world about Puerto Rico?
The governor of Puerto Rico Alejandro Garcia Padilla recently wrote a letter to the secretary general of the United Nations (UN) Ban Ki-moon about the White House’s position regarding the Puerto Rico v. Sánchez Valle case where it said that Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States (US). The governor said in his letter that either the US lied to the UN in 1953, or it is lying now.
In 1953, the US told the UN that Puerto Rico had obtained self-government in 1952 through its new government called the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The US petitioned the UN to remove Puerto Rico from its list of colonies. Since then, Puerto Rico does not appear in the UN’s list of colonies.
In 2008, the then governor of Puerto Rico Anibal Acevedo Vila spoke before the UN’s annual hearing on Puerto Rico decolonization, because he was upset about President Bush’s report on Puerto Rico. The report said that the US government could sell Puerto Rico to any country it wants, if it desires. He also asked the UN the same question. Either the US lied to the UN in 1953, or it is lying in President’s Bush’s report. Still, the US lies some more!
Our Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera has been in prison for 34 years for “seditious conspiracy to overthrow the US government in Puerto Rico”. This is yet another lie!
This law was made during the US Civil War to make it a crime for the South to secede from the Union. The law is for first class US citizens. After the war, it was never used again until it was used against Puerto Ricans who fought for Puerto Rico independence.
The United States invaded Puerto Rico militarily in 1898. After the October 30th, 1950 Nationalist’s Insurrection that focused the world’s attention to the fact that Puerto Rico was a colony of the United States, the US decided to create another lie to mask that fact. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico was that lie.
Despite the fact that Oscar is the one in jail, it is the US government that is the real criminal. The US is violating the 1960 international law (UN Resolution 1514 XV) which prohibits colonialism, because it is a threat to world peace. In fact, colonialism is considered by the international community as a crime against humanity. President Bush asked, why do people hate us? People do because the US government goes around committing crimes against humanity all over the world! This is also why the world believes that the US government is the biggest threat to world peace! The fact of the matter is that Oscar has the right under this law to use any means necessary to decolonize Puerto Rico.
The UN in 34 resolutions has asked the US to immediately decolonize Puerto Rico. Since it refuses, in order to perpetuate its illegal relationship, it promotes plebiscites, supposedly so that Puerto Ricans could decide what they want. This is, once again, another lie. It doesn’t matter what Puerto Ricans want. Colonialism is illegal, and Puerto Rico must be decolonized. Once she is, Puerto Rico could do what she wants.
The US government lies, because it wants to keep Puerto Rico as its colony forever. It’s time that we realize this, so that we could protest peacefully and permanently for Puerto Rico decolonization. The protests are necessary, because those who lie to keep their colonies don’t believe in JUSTICE FOR ALL!